Courts, Chambers & Cultural

Instrument of Crime: Condoms, Prostitution, Prosecutors and Public Safety in Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Convention Center 106AB
Presentation: Friday 10/5/2018 10:45 AM
Outlawed in California, New York, and Washington D.C., since 2012 Pennsylvania prosecutors have been using Comstock Act era tactics in an effort to detain prostitutes to combat trafficking. Is charging individuals for Instruments of Crime (IOC) effective policing tactic in ending human trafficking; or is contributing to challenges in addressing important public health risks surrounding HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, and sexually transmitted diseases? Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are combining forces for important advocacy work to draw attention to these practices.

The Millionaire Abolitionist by Stephen Lemons : As McNeill points out, Demand Abolition provides funding to law-enforcement agencies with the provision that those agencies will work in concert with the group to emphasize enforcement on the consumer end of the exchange of commercial sex — and to adopt its terminology. For example, the document suggests use of the term “sex buying” rather than “prostitution,” because “Prostitution is a ‘gray area.’ Sex buying puts the onus on the buyer.”

According to data sent to me by the Philadelphia Police Department, from August 2017 to July 2018, the authorities arrested people for soliciting sex work 651 times. Inevitably, a large number of these arrests were traumatic for the people involved, many of whom were just trying to make enough money to survive.

"I have always thought that prostitution should be legal, and speaking with numerous sex workers affirmed that," Simonetti said. "The descriptions they provided of the manner in which they are treated were deeply troubling. Writing the piece was actually quite difficult for me. It felt pertinent that I piece together these narratives in a way that does justice to voices that often go unheard." SEPTEMBER 19, 2018
Penn student's op-ed makes case for legalizing prostitution in Pennsylvania Michael Tanenbaum PhillyVoice Staff

“I want safety of women, yes. I don’t want prostitution.” In the District of Columbia, City Council member David Grosso introduced legislation in 2017 to decriminalize all forms of sex work. The bill is backed by pro–sex worker groups including Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive, one of the nation’s oldest sex worker advocacy groups, and activists say they are hopeful the City Council will take up the measure later this year. Whether or not it passes is in some ways beside the point. Given the stigma associated with the industry, getting a major metropolitan government to seriously consider decriminalization would be a major coup for a constituency that has largely operated in the shadows.

Julia Salazar, who is running for a New York state Senate seat representing north Brooklyn, arrived a few minutes later to send them off. She said sex workers—“my constituents”—are disproportionately criminalized in her district. Bushwick, for example, was among the top five New York City neighborhoods where police made “loitering for prostitution” arrests as of 2015. She referenced the Brooklyn courts, where 94 percent of those facing loitering for prostitution charges were Black. “That should disturb all of us,” she said. Salazar argued that sex work policing was a central part of a bigger problem with Brooklyn’s approach to criminal justice.

“As with most other data related to human trafficking, there are huge gaps between estimates of prevalence or populations at risk and individuals actually identified as trafficking victims or enrolled in government programs. Better data and research are needed to begin distinguishing among possible reasons for the gaps between prevalence estimates and administrative data.”

AASECT distinguishes consensual sex work, which is undertaken by consenting adults by choice, from sex trafficking, which is undertaken as forced or coerced labor. Sex trafficking is a result of force, coercion, or the threat of force, and often involves children.
Moreover, AASECT recognizes that sex workers, including sexological bodyworkers, surrogate partners, professional dominants, and lifestyle educators sometimes facilitate the work of sex educators, counselors, and therapists by providing hands-on adjunctive treatment services.

Reason Magazine: A 2016 study funded by the Justice Department concluded that the total number of juveniles in the sex trade in the United States was about 9,000 to 10,000. The study also found that only about 15 percent of the children relied on pimps and that the average age of entry into the sex trade was 15.8 years.

House arrest for Farrell ex-cop, former Stoneboro Police Chief By Mike Gauntner, Online Content Manager Posted: Aug 10, 2018 5:27 AM EDT MERCER, Pa. -A former Stoneboro Police Chief and Farrell Police Officer has been sentenced to four months of house arrest after being caught having sex with a prostitute while on duty and pocketing money donated for a police K-9 program.

Action Alert: On July 19 legislation was introduced by Oakland City Council Member Abel Guillen to arrest sex workers’ clients, and tow and remove their cars. Stepping up arrests and the removal of men’s cars who are purportedly looking to pay for sex will force sex workers into more isolated and dangerous spaces, increasing their vulnerability to rape and other violence. What it won’t do is stop prostitution.

The following press release was received from the Secretary of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire For Immediate Release July 29, 2018 (Concord, NH)- Yesterday, the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire (LPNH) wrapped up the business from their State Convention in late April at a second special convention at the Grappone Conference Center. AND WE FKN LOVE IT!

When sex workers cannot vet their clients online, they don’t know if they’re a potential risk,” says Bella Robinson, executive director of Coyote Rhode Island (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics). “Sex workers around the world have immediately felt the effects of the new law – loss of work, bodily autonomy and an increase in violence, murder and HIV infection. The new law also threatens those seeking or posting about harm reduction for sex workers on websites.”

VAVAW: Our public position was that we critiqued and challenged the sex work industry as a whole, but would not turn away individual sex workers who wanted to access our services.This position is inherently flawed. It is not possible to support individuals and also call for the abolition of their profession. Our service delivery and the writing we’ve put out have sent the message to members of the sex worker community and their allies that sex workers could not access our services.
We’re sorry for this.

Washington, D.C.—On Thursday, July 19, at 4 pm, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will urge a federal judge to put enforcement of FOSTA on hold during the pendency of its lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the federal law. The hold is needed, in part, to allow plaintiff Woodhull Freedom Foundation to organize and publicize its annual conference, held August 2-5.

Tim Cushing For TechDirt: UK Parliament Members Looking To Punish Websites, Push Traffickers Underground Our government decided to make the internet worse, endanger the lives of sex workers, and make it harder for law enforcement to hunt down sex traffickers. And it was all done in the name of fighting sex trafficking. SESTA/FOSTA's passage immediately … Continue reading Britain On A FOSTA Of One’s Own:

Shea Rhodes in op/ed to The Hill: Prostitution is incredibly dangerous. The admission by sex workers who claim to use certain websites to screen violent and homicidal sex buyers acknowledges the inherent danger of commercial sex. The passage of SESTA/FOSTA does not make prostitution more dangerous.

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Recent Posts: SWOP Behind Bars (SBB)

SWOP Behind Bars is strongly opposing Florida Senate Bill FL 540 (FL SB 540). The website for this bill is https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2019/00540. The sponsor is Senator Lauren Book, who attempted a bill in 2018 that included some portions of this one. An identical House version has also been introduced, but this toolkit currently focuses on the […]

Florida Senate Considers Creating Prostitution Registry: Florida Senate Bill 540 with the Orwellian title “Human Trafficking” would create a registry for people found guilty of the loosely defined crime of “soliciting, inducing, enticing, or procuring” another to commit “prostitution, lewdness, or assignation.”
Such people, once prosecuted would be added to a registry entitled “Soliciting for Prostitution Registry.”

About this essay: Against FOSTA/SESTA was chosen as the First Place finalist in Slixa’s call for entires on the subject of FOSTA/SESTA. In addition to a cash award for the author, this designation also came with a matching contribution to a provider-focused service organization of the author’s choosing. Congratulations to Lucy Kahn. Slixa is proud to support SWOP – Los Angeles in their thoughtful and important work.

Currently & formerly incarcerated survivors have stated again and again how important letters of support are to their well-being. Letters are also important strategies to build relationships and organizing coalitions across prison walls. Here’s a basic guide for how to send letters to incarcerated people. ​This document is adapted from a prisoner letter-writing guide created […]

NSWP on EMPOWER Thailand: A panel from ‘Mida Tapestry’, created by migrant sex workers to compliment the ‘Hit and Run’ sex worker research project. The tapestry was first publically displayed at the 12 February, 2012, launch of the ‘Hit and Run’ research initiative in Bangkok, Thailand. Image attributed to EMPOWER Foundation.